Colt Blooded Killers
by rainbowscout98
Summary: When what was supposed to be just another easy contract, three hit Colt got more than what they agreed to do. A simple contract was a planned kill against princess twilight. Badlands to canterlot, and all the way around these three will go to find the one who assigned their contract when Celestia hires them to bring this pony to justice. the question is will they survive?
1. Chapter 1

Colt Blooded killers

By: Fluffy Catman

The Badlands. In Equestria this area is known as a place where many evil lies. People think the Changelings come from here when rather they come from beyond this place. The badlands are what few call home. those few are the baddest of the bad. Among these few is Merc, Mask and Bug. They are a mercenary group with a bad attitude. They are not well respected in the Badlands but soon they will be known all throughout equestria.

Merc, Mask and Bug were sitting at a table in the "spilled cider" saloon betting some of their job payments against each other on a game of poker using stolen cards from princess celestia's military reserve in the badlands. Merc placed a four pair of queens down. "You guys think you can beat me?" Merc asked. Merc was the oldest and the leader of the team. He kept this team running through moral and strong courage. He was the earth pony of the team. Bug looked at his cards then threw them down on the table. "Son of a…" Bug was a pegasus and the quickest of the group. Sometimes he goes by the name of sparky but his team never calls him that. Merc laughed and looked at Mask.

"WHat about you buddy?" Mask Had a horn hidden under the mask he used to talk. He worked as the precision stallion. Very silent and very deadly. No one but his team knows why he wears this mask which he uses to only talk through emoticons. Mask looked at his cards through his black visor and back at Merc. Mask revealed his cards. A royal flush. Merc looked at Masks cards then back at his. Merc growled and handed over his bet. "LOL" came up on Masks mask. Bug was laughing and pointing at Merc.

"Well How about that. The quiet one is the one who wins honestly," A female voice said. Merc turned and saw a mare in a hood walk up to them. The hood coated over her head. Merc narrowed his eyebrows. "Do you need something?" Merc asked. The mare sat down and looked at the cards. "Deadly and psychic, I might have a little crush. I need somepony dead," She said. Bug looked at her. "We don't do that," Bug said. The mare lifted a brown bag full of bits that seemed as heavy as one of them alone. "This is a big bounty." Merc opened the bag and looked through it. He felt and tested the bits. He nodded. "For a price we will." Merc put the bit he was testing back. "Who's the target?" Merc asked. The bag of bits disappeared. "I knew you'd see things my way. You'll get paid when the job is done." A picture floated up and put itself cleanly on the table.

A purple mares face was on the picture with a small cutie mark rendering on the side that looked like a purple star surrounded by smaller white stars. "Her name is Twilight Sparkle. I want her dead and nothing less. Do you understand?" Merc looked at the picture then chuckled. "Lady, this is easy money. She can't be that important to anything," Merc said. The mare looked in his direction. "You have no idea." Merc shook his head. "Alright. Where was she last seen?"

"Canterlot. Good luck." The mare left them and the picture at the table. Merc watched her leave. He thought. This was a mare that lived in canterlot. A place full of important people. Something about this contract just felt weird to Merc. He looked back at his team and saw Mask looking intently at the picture. "Hey, Mask. You good dude?" Bug asked

"3" came up on Masks visor. "Oh come on man. You barely even know her," Bug responded. ":(" Mask said. Merc stood and waved them to leave. "Come on. You can sleep with her body or masturbate to her picture later. We have a job to do." Merc said. He grabbed his knife. Bug put on his mask which looked like just a metal plate with eye visors over a ski mask. Mask shook his head. "/3" appeared on his visor as he put the picture in one of his many tactical pockets, grabbed his hoof made rifle and left with his team. These mercenaries didn't know it but they were about to get in way more than what they were paid to do.

The three had gotten out of the train and looked around. This target was going to be hard to find if their employer paid them this much. They saw a poster on a pole and read it. "Twilight Sparkle is giving a speech today in Canterlot royal gardens. All who can attend are invited. 8 o'clock to 9." Merc looked at Mask. "Take a picture and copy it on your visor. we gotta get somewhere, set up and come back later when the speech is being given." Mask looked at the poster and the image repeated on his mask visor. "Image copied" MAsks visor said in a small box. Merc nodded and led the team to a small building with a good view of the center of canterlot gardens where they thought Twilight would give her speech. Mask was setting up his rifle and looking around the area. He saw her in the window.

Mask spotted Twilight so he zoomed in and enhanced the vision of the visor. He watched her movement intently as she was talking to one of the guards. Mask started moving as if he was speaking to a guard himself. his movements matched with hers almost too well. Mask stopped and just watched. "Mask! You done setting up, bud?" Merc asked. Mask quickly unzoomed and finished setting the rifle up. He looked at back at Twilight and sighed under his mask. "I'm Srry," His visor said in green letters. Mask left the building and met his friends.

"Alright. I want to make this kill public so all can see it. This is a big job boys. You better be ready for anything," Merc said. Bug saluted and mask nodded.

"Yes, sir."

"CPT."

Merc put red tape over the building with a sign that said, under construction. They walked off to find somewhere to stay while they waited for the night to come. During this time Mask was waiting outside a small hotel in the city. Merc came out to him and softly jabbed Mask in the shoulder. "Hey kid. How you feeling?" Merc asked lighting a cigarette. "I…" Came up first on masks visor. "I CNT." Mask looked at Merc. "I know man. I really do. do you know how many beautiful maidens i probably had a shot with but i had to put a shot in their head? This job doesn't have to be easy. it's only for the strong. These strong have reasons. What's yours again? it had to do with a farm?"

Mask nodded. "MOM"

"That's right. you're mom lives on a farm in badlands. Is she a strong enough reason?" Merc asked again leaning against a pillar at the front of the hotel. "YES," Masks visor said. "Good. Gear up, kid. We leave in five." Merc put out his cigarette and trotted back inside to find Bug. Mask looked into the sky and shook his head at the stars. Under his visor he sighed. "May celestia have mercy on my poor soul."

Mask was at the top of the building holding his rifle close and the trigger in the field of Masks magic. "Get ready. I see her coming close to the stand," Merc said over the radio. Bug was behind Mask relaying orders to Mask. "Do you have a clear shot?" Merc asked seeing Twilight get up to the mic. Mask nodded to bug. "We're clear, sir. Mask's got a line." Bug said through his radio. Merc watched with a patient eye. "Ok. Take the shot." Merc said. Bug looked at Mask. He wasn't doing anything. He watched through a magic field that zoomed in to Twilight with a small crosshair pointed at her horn.

"Hey, Mask. You hear Merc?" Bug asked. Mask looked over at Bug. "Take the shot. Now." Merc said again. Mask looked back through the zoom in field. He sighed. His magic started to pull the trigger back. Twilight lifted her wings up. Mask saw this and pulled the rifle up shooting the round into the air. The loud blast was heard and all the ponies started to panic. "She's a princess?!" Merc asked himself as he left the scene as well with the other scared ponies. "Fall back, we have to keep from being caught," Merc said in the radio. Mask nodded. Bug and Mask jet out of the building trying to keep out of sight. Merc caught up to his friends and they started to leave when a small blockade of guards stopped them. "Stop right there!" Mask pulled out his rifle. "No! Drop it mask," Merc said. Mask looked at him and dropped it.

The guards grabbed Mask's weapon and arrested them. "This is not gonna be good." Merc said as the guards lead them away.

Marc, Mask and Bug remained quiet in their cell. Merc was examining the walls and noticed that some bricks seemed to be loose and they could easily escape. Merc was about to slowly push a brick out when the cell door opened and princess celestia entered. "You three owe me an explanation. By your actions i take it you're from the badlands but why are you here?" Princess celestia asked. Merc, Bug and Mask bowed. Merc spoke, "Your majesty we are nothing but killers we were hired by a mare in the badlands to kill Twilight Sparkle. We had no idea she was a princess. That is our only restriction." Merc said.

"Who would do that?" The princess asked. Merc shook his head. "I don't know, i just know she really wanted Twilight dead. This was a high paying job," Merc responded. The princess thought but to no conclusion. She could not guess of anypony who would want Twilight dead. "I must return to my chambers. My guards will keep a close eye on you." Princess celestia said. She walked out and closed the cell door. "Guards, make sure these three are under close observation until my return." Princess said as she left. The guard saluted.

Merc looked at his team and nodded. "Alright, let's go," He whispered. Mask and Bug stood in front of Merc acting as if they were just talking while behind their cover Merc started pushing out bricks. "Hey Merc, aren't we on the sixth floor?" Bug asked. Merc realised this and kept pushing out the bricks. He made a hole small enough to crawl through and pushed out enough to hold on to. Merc crawled out first and held on to the pushed out bricks. He shimmied over and Mask crawled out next. Bug crawled through and flew just over his friends. Mask grabbed on to one of his front hooves and Merc grabbed on to the other.

Bug gently flew his friends to the ground. They ducked behind a bush and tree's as a guard came by with a light spell looking in front of him. Merc was in the bush and saw the light looming near him. Merc gently and quietly backed away from it. The light got closer and closer. It barely touched the tip of his nose when it moved and the guard left. Merc sighed in relief and got out. Mask got out from behind the tree and Bug flew down from one of the branches. Merc nodded and pointed towards the gate. "Come on, we're almost out of here," Merc whispered happily. The three quickly trotted over towards the door and opened it. They went through and Mask and Bug stopped in their tracks as Merc closed the door quietly and turned. He stopped in a shock as well. "Glad you could join us, you three," Princess celestia said. She was standing there with Twilight, some other ponies and solar guards. Merc was surprised. They were expected, they knew they were gonna try and get out. This impressed Merc.

"You expected us?" Merc asked. Princess celestia nodded. "Of course, You are very well trained to escape prison but i knew the only way out of here quietly was the front door. Always expect the unexpected as you say, Mr. Merc." Merc raised a brow with a slight smile. "So you expected us. What does that mean?" Bug asked looking at the guards. "You told Princess Celestia here that someone hired you to kill me and we have no idea who that could be but you are all professional killers with some extraordinary tracking abilities." Twilight said. Merc shrugged. "I don't know how you could tell that, the way we found you was because you had posters all over Canterlot." Merc said. Celestia pulled out a guard report with her magic and passed it to Merc. Merc looked it over.

Situation: Hostage

location: Badlands

Name: Solarsword

Solarsword and many other ponies had been captured and held in the badlands. Going undercover Arrowflash went to the badlands to help and accidentally found a group of three ponies. These ponies were hired killers and offered to help no charge. One had a scruffy goatee and a red vest with a white T-shirt. His name was Merc, the leader during the invasion he continued to say "Expect the unexpected," As some of the kidnappers would jump out from behind the corner. One wore a green vest that had a number of pockets on it. Upon making it to the place Solarsword was being held he put on a ski mask with a green faceplate on it. His name was Bug, interesting name. The final one wore a complete body suit that held multiple pockets, a mask that covered his entire face and it seems he only talks using it. The other two seemed to call him Mask. They tracked and found the base at a strange number of coordinates and rescued Solarsword without my help. End Of Report.

Merc sighed. "I remember that, it was no problem but i still wish we had charged him," Merc said putting down the report. Celestia brought it back to herself. "Yeah of course but it felt good to help somebody for once," Bug said with a smile. Mask brought up a recorded kill count on his visor and showed it to his friends, 47 Hostage caretakers killed, it said in a box with a black background. Merc and Bug chuckled. "LOL" came up in the box next to the kill count on Mask's visor.

Princess celestia looked unamused. They stopped laughing and cleared their throats. "We request your assistance given your impressive record in the field all three of you specialize in," The princess said. A unicorn guard brought out Masks rifle. "This is an impressive weapon. Did you make it yourself?" She asked. Mask stood forward. "YES," Mask said. "It seems quite interesting. What does it do?" Celestia asked. "MAY I?" Appeared on Mask's visor. The princess nodded and gave Mask the rifle. The Guards got more tense. Mask pointed it up and at the princess. "Put it down! Now!" One of the guards yelled. Mask kept it up. Princess Celestia seemed calm.

Mask pulled back the lock and loaded a round in. "Don't you even think about it!" Another guard yelled. Merc and Bug were scared as well. Mask shot, the bullet cut through the air and blew three apples off of a tree 500 yards away. The guards tackled Mask. "Guards, stand down, now," Princess celestia said. The guards saw the tree and what had happened When the guard noticed where mask shot they saw how far he managed to nail them. The apples were not only shot through but the round cracked every single one of them and busted them leaving the top of the apple barely left on the tree. They got off of Mask and he gave the rifle back to the princess. "Very impressive," The princess said looking over the weapon again.

"We will let you go with your weapons and equipment we caught you with as well as a little extra if you promise to find and bring who ordered your contract to justice," Twilight said. The princess nodded. "Knowing your reputation and perfect case record i expect this job to be finished easily." Celestia turned to walk away when Merc stopped her. "Ma'am, we're killers though, not police," Merc said. The princess nodded. "I know and should you kill this pony it has to be under the circumstances of no other choice." Celestia walked off and left the three in the hooves of the guards. Twilight looked at them. "Guards, get them some comfortable rooms. We need them at the top of their game if they're gonna work as royal contractors," Twilight said. The guards looked at twilight shocked but followed orders. The three were given rooms inside the castle. Merc looked out and at the moon.

"It's been a busy night and we're getting more than what we bargained for. This better come out in our favor," Merc said as he lit a cigarette. Mask was watching the moon in his room. The moons rays reflected off his visor. He tilted his head and sighed. The picture of Twilight opened up on Mask's visor. He laid back in his bed and fell asleep with his full suit still on.


	2. Chapter 2

Soon at the dawn of the next day the three needed to retrace their own steps and find this mare. The one who hired them. They had to find her. With no information or record on who she was or what she looked like they had no idea where to start. Mask had accidently recorded only her magic aura. It seemed transparent as all magic but it had a green sparkle tint to it. Merc looked at this recording and nodded. "Our first encounter with a mare that had a green magic aura. Interesting. Mask search up Records of all unicorn mares with green auras," Merc said. Mask nodded and brought up and searched throughout multiple records that seemed to zip over his visor and a final count came up.

ponyville: 23

Manehatten: 67

canterlot: 122

This came up in a black box on Mask's visor. Merc growled. "This will take forever. Bug i want you to fly by and see how many unicorns you can spot with a green aura. Canterlot is the most unicorn populated city and we need to hurry. Don't get rough with them, we have the guards on our side, no need to make them mad now," Merc said pointing at Bug. Bug nodded and spread his wings. He took off in a flash of green and flew around the city streets. Merc looked at Mask. "Mask, I want you to teleport me to Manehatten and you check out ponyville. We're in a rush. When the next train to Canterlot arrives you teleport me and we'll get back to Bug," Merc said. Mask saluted and teleported Merc to Manehatten and Mask went to ponyville.

Their search went on for hours and hours but none matched motives or even voice tone of this Mare. Something felt odd for Merc. He kept hearing the voice ringing in his ears but that was the thing. It rang over and over again until the voice started to mesh and sound like two ponies talking at once in different tones but the same exact monologue. Merc thought. What could this mean? Who in the world is so weird or so odd that this was made apparent because of his perception of contract details. Chills ran down Mercs spine. This case was odd and only gonna get weirder if this kept up. He could tell even before it happened that this is gonna be one of the most dangerous missions they had ever agreed to.

Merc was teleported back to Canterlot with Mask and they went to the royal courtyard where Bug had finished his go around. He was talking to celestia and reporting his findings. "I was unable to find any Mare's that match the small description we had when we were given the contract ma'am," Bug said. Celestia noticed Merc and Mask walking up. "Neither were we. I'm sorry to report today had no progress towards this pony," Merc said. Mask nodded. Celestia sighed. "I understand. These are dark times if someone so well hidden is going to make a death attempt towards a princess," She said, despair in her voice. Merc shook himself and turned to look at a bush. "Is all well, Merc?" Celestia asked. Merc nodded seeing nothing but the bush. "Yeah. Yeah sorry i just got a chill." He turned back to the princess. Merc tried thinking to remember something but kept failing. There was something bothering him. Something he couldn't recall and had forgotten almost completely.

Night fell and Merc could not sleep. He trotted along the hallways passing guards who would ask him what he was up to, then watch him as he left the corridor. He tried his best to avoid the princess' chamber door so he didn't arouse any unwanted and wrongful suspicion. He tried to remember what he had forgotten. It had been bothering him since he got that chill going down his spine. "AAAUUUGGGHH!" A scream was heard. Merc bolted down the corridor in the direction of the scream. He got there and saw two guards. One guard was bleeding out, A knife through his back. The other was dead with a stab wound under the helmets protection. Merc walked over and looked at the knife. A note seemed to be between the guard and the handle of the knife. "THE JOB MUST BE DONE," The note read. Merc sighed. The one with the knife in his back was alive but it was obvious he was hurting just to breath as other guards showed up. Mask and Bug ran over behind the guards.

Celestia passed through all of them. "What happened here?" She asked. Merc sighed. He finally remembered what he was trying to recall. "Observers, ma'am," He said. Merc stood up and shook his head. "I should've remembered. Observers are here."

Some guards took the dead and injured ones away and Celestia invited the team as well as Luna and Twilight to the conference room. Celestia put her hoof down on the table and looked at Merc. "Merc can you describe observers?" She asked. Merc nodded. "Observers are like back up killers. They're only there to make sure the contract is complete. If in anyway the original mercenaries, assassins or killers fail, it's the job of the observers to finish it for them," Merc said glancing around the room. "So there are more mercenaries here to try and kill Twilight as well? I see. Merc you and your team will not be getting rest until day. You will stand guard in front of Twilights chambers," She said. Merc sighed with a nod. "Understood ma'am. You can count on us."

"I hope so," The princess said as they left. She was starting to doubt her own judgement on hiring these three but they have their own vow. They can't kill princess' but with how skilled they were and those behind them were was just very scary. Nights would pass and Mask would sometimes skip his rest to speak with Twilight. Soon it had been a week and Celestia was planning on letting Merc, Mask and Bug back to their investigation. "One more night. Then i will need you three back to finding the mare that hired you. Now go and rest," She said. That night they stepped up on their security. Mask took all new routes just big enough to go through and see if anypony could go through.

He moved through areas with no specific pattern so to not be noticed and passed easily. Mask turned on a thermal viewer for his visor and looked around. He turned around and was swung at by a knife with the heat of magic radiating off the handle. He stepped back quickly as the blade sliced the air in front of him. The culprit was behind it wearing a mask with three red lights over the eyes and one more on the forehead. Mask looked as he stepped back with every swish of the knife. Mask quickly jumped back and threw a ball out of his pocket from the belt of his suit. It hit the pony in the forehead on the red light, knocking him back and stunning him. Regaining himself the colt looked around. Mask had disappeared. The pony looked around with the knife at the ready.

Mask came up from behind the colt and hit him with a chair. The colt fell to the ground unconscious. Mask looked around. No guards. Mask put the chair down and tied him down to it using the thin ropes of a potted plants roots. Thin but loud. If it snapped, he could easily hear it. He had no rope with him currently so he kept him there.

Merc looked out the window at the full moon. Nothing looked prettier. He felt a chill run down his spine again. Like the one he got from the gardens earlier that week. Merc turned and looked around. Nothing but a black hallway covered in shadow. He started walking slowly down the shadow draped corridor with his eyes in a concentrated glare. He shifted his vision to different places as he passed eligible hiding spots. He sighed reaching the end and started to walk back down the hall when he stopped dead in his tracks. He saw something out of the corner of his eye. He slowly made his way over and looked behind the stand the shadow ducked behind. Nothing. He turned only for a covered hoof to hit him in the face.

Merc stumbled back and grabbed his nose. He was bleeding and it went down draining into his scruffy goatee. He looked up with rage boiling in his eyes. An observer. This one looked high tech with a suit consisting of a shadow black skin tight suit with pockets around the belt. The mask on this one seemed to have two eyes with red lights. Merc cricked his neck and stood in a fighting position.

The observer showed a magic aura and a knife levitated out of one of the pockets. The observer bolted towards Merc and in one swift motion sliced near Merc. Surprised the Observer didn't see Merc move so quickly. Merc had backed up and slammed the observers back laying him out on the floor. Merc stepped back. The observer looked at the knife and tossed it. The knife itself cut into the rug and stood. The two colts circled each other. Merc growled at the observer. The observer pounced, distracting Merc who thought that was it. Merc was caught by surprise when the observer bucked and knocked him in the jaw making him stumble back. Merc chuckled. "You do not know the kind of hell you just asked for, son." Merc looked behind him and saw a door. The observer pounced again, this time Merc grabbed him and threw him through the door. The door broke and fell off its hinges.

Merc looked into the room. An odd mirror stood in there. Merc grabbed the observer, who quickly retaliated by removing Merc's hooves only to stumble backwards and go through the mirror in a flash of light. Merc was confused but he needed to get this observer. He jumped in after him. Merc got to the other side. His red bubble vest seemed normal. His hair was slicked back and his shirt seemed undamaged despite a little dirt. Something was new though. He had odd appendages. almost like small hoofless hooves on the edge of his hooves. He looked down and his back hooves bent backwards but covered in denim jeans. He tried to stand up. He felt uncomfortable standing on the bends of his new hooves. He got up on the weird extended bottoms of his hooves. He looked over and the Observer seemed to be having trouble too. Merc slowly took step by step towards the observer. By the time he got to the Observer his muscles seemed to now memorize this new form. He got on top of the Observer and both of them didn't need a reteach to throw a punch but Merc's seemed more effective as he bent the tiny grips on his front hooves into a ball and kept punching at the Observer.

Merc thought the Observer had enough when he stopped fighting back. Merc grabbed the Observer and tossed him back through the reflective surface of a statue. On the statue was a pony seeming to be ridden by a kind of odd creature he had become upon passing through the mirror himself. Merc walked back through the reflective surface then fell back down on to all four hooves. He felt comfortable to be able to do so again. The Observer was knocked out. Merc threw him over his back and started trotting towards the princess' chambers.

Bug was flying over the castle when he got a call in on his radio. It was Merc. "Bug, We need you at the conference room now. Celestia is requesting our presence, And we have some idiots to deal with." Bug nodded and responds. "Understood, sir. I'm…" Bug stopped as he saw some sort of flash whisk by his vision into shadow. "Bug? Is something wrong?" Merc asked. Bug hit the talk button on his radio again. "One second, sir. I think i saw something," Bug said. "I'm gonna check it out."

"Watch yourself, Bug. It could be an Observer. Approach with extreme caution, and when you're done we need you here," Merc said. "Understood. Moving." Bug finished talking and slowly flew over to the shadow. He saw nothing under the blanket of pitch black. Bug reached into a pocket on his vest and pulled out a flare, made from an interesting amount of firework string and some sulfur powder. Bug lit it and tossed it to the middle of the patch of shadows. As soon as he did something flew to a different patch of shadow. Bug grabbed the flare and tossed it to that patch. The same thing happened five other times.

Upon the sixth time Bug tossed the flare over the thing bounced out at him. It hit him and Bug started falling. He stopped in time to keep above the ground which was good since they were no where near the ground to begin with. Bug looked at what hit him. He had his hooves wrapped around a pegasus observer. "Let go of me you ape," The observer said. Bug was confused. The tone was higher than what he expected and what male pegasus of all pony races thought the color purple would be good to go with lit eyepieces. Bug zipped out from under the Observer and grabbed a vine, hanging from a nearby tree and quickly tied up the Observer. "You're kidding me. How did you move that quickly?" The Observer asked in a high but agitated tone. "Easy. I've trained since grade school. Now, you are coming with me," Bug said. He picked up the observer who complained the entire way to the conference room. Bug flew in and put the Observer he caught on the table. "I see Merc and Mask aren't the only ones with deadly encounters tonight," Celestia said. "Well mine wasn't deadly unless you count getting knocked out of the sky and heading towards the ground fast from one of the highest points in the castle. Yeah not deadly at all." Merc sighed. Mask looked at Bug. "LOL," On his visor. Merc looked at the one he brought in. "I caught this one while in some weird world that turned me into… Something."

Celestia looked at Merc confused. "What do you mean?" She asked. Merc looked at his hoof. "I had these weird grips on my hooves and it felt bad to walk on all my hooves. not only that but my back legs bent backwards and my hooves extended out," Merc said. Celestia understood now. "Well i see you found my magic mirror. Now about these observers." Celestia stopped when a loud pout sound was heard. "Hmph." It came from beside Bug. It was obvious the observer wasn't happy, Then again who would be to be captured so easily, not even knocked out. Bug sighed. "We're gonna have to remove their masks. That's easy for us two but Bug you might get bit," Merc said. Bug nodded. He knew this was most likely true.

Merc and Mask pulled off the mask of the other two Observers revealing they weren't colts. The masks they were wearing were designed to make them look like colts. "Oh no, The sisterhooves," Merc said. Bug was confused. "I thought the sisterhooves was only two."

"Then they probably added a new pair of wings to their group." Everyone looked at the tied down pegasus. "Though i should've known when i laid eyes on those suits. Bug, Check that one," Merc said. Bug grabbed the mask in his jaw and after the pony tried to kick at him with her back hooves he removed the mask. Once again, a female. Bug thought he should've guessed because of her voice when she first spoke. "You cave dogs. She'll have your head for betraying her!" The pegasus yelled. She had a tan coat with red hair. A bow tied her mane together. Bug seemed so uninterested but inside he was burning to talk to her, at least without having her try and kill him and him trying to kill her.

"Who's she?" Merc asked. "I'm your worst nightmare, you old f-"

"Respect your elders, Jet. Besides, Merc here is way out of your league." One of the mares woke up. She was the oldest and much more mature one. She compared to Merc in a ton of ways except for gender and experience. "My dear Merc, It's fantastic to see you again." This mare had a light blue coat and her mane had some streaks of grey going down their curly baby blue trail. "I would say the same about you, wild blue, But you tried to kill one of my men."

"Oh it was nothing personal. Mask is such a dear but very spry and quick when it comes to moving around others. Do you use that trick with the mare's dear?" She asked Mask. "/" appeared on Mask's visor. "Oh, dreadfully sorry dear. I forget how shy you can be." The blue mare said. "Enough teasing my men, Martha. Who sent you?" Merc asked. Martha blue was this older mare's name. "I'm sorry, Merc but that information is classified. You know i'm a very secretive mare," Martha said. "I also know that you're willing to give up that information for a price. Knowing you the price is always too high," Merc responded. Martha nodded. "What is this price?" Celestia asked. "Oh, I'm sorry princess. I didn't recognize your presence but honestly and sincerely i do not know who hired us. Though Jet Flash over there might. She's a very curious young filly," Martha said. Jet Flash was The Sisterhooves pegasus. "I might but i ain't telling you s-"

"Respectful language in front of the princess, Jet Flash." Martha said again. Jet Flash sighed. "I won't tell you anything," Jet Flash said. Merc sighed and looked at Bug, then at the Princess. "We'd like an intarrogation set up please," Merc said. The princess nodded. "Of course. I'll have the guards on it at once. Is there anything special you'll need in the room?" She asked. Merc looked at Mask. Mask pulled up a list on his visor.

-5 water buckets

-1 rag

-rope

-pliers

-wrench

-sheet of metal

-electric conduit enhancer

"I honestly wish we didn't need half of that stuff," Merc said. "Don't hurt her too much, Merc will you? She's still young and has much to learn. Remember my last team mate you killed?" Martha asked. Merc sighed. "She was dead when i got there. Either one with this one, no promises can be made." Merc looked into Jet Flash's eyes with his brow narrowed. Jet Flash saw the intensity of the situation she was in and gulped.

Hours later under the observation of Twilight, Luna and Celestia the team had begun their interrogation procedure. The guards brought in the equipment one by one starting with the buckets of water and the rag. Mask grabbed the battery and sheet of metal when the guards brought them in. Jet Flash had been tied to the chair which was new since any other kind the subject would be tied to the table. Mask wrapped the sheet metal around Jets hooves. "Now, Flash. We can do this the easy way or the hard way. We just want to know who hired us," Merc said. Jet glared at him. "Screw you," She said. "You'd enjoy that wouldn't you?" Merc asked. Jet scoffed with a blush of anger and Merc looked over at Mask and nodded. Mask charged the battery and the flash of electricity jumped from it to the sheet metal on Jet Flash's hooves. Bug flinched and Jet yelled. Merc sighed and Mask stopped. She shook for a bit then looked at Merc. "You son of a b-…grah." She couldn't complete her sentence before she had to sigh and release some of her pain. "You might want to catch your breath before you say anything." Bug didn't like watching this but he needed to complete his mission and if this is what must be done then so be it.

Twilight was horrified at the sight of what they did. "Princess, are they allowed to do that?" Twilight asked. Celestia looked at Luna. Luna nodded and they looked at Twilight. "These colts are not military and if this is what they must do to complete what we asked them to do then it will be done. They know their limits. They are in our presence." Celestia turned her head to watch as they continued. "Mask, take off the metal. Get the rag ready," Merc said. Merc grabbed a bucket of water. Mask put the rag on Jets head and Bug leaned the chair back. "What's going on? What're you doing?" She asked. Jet Flash couldn't see a thing under the rag. Mask started dumping the water on Jet Flash in a slow but rushing and raging way. Jet coughed and choked under the rag. Merc had dumped all the water out. The rag was soaked and Bug removed it. Jet Flash coughed up water, her eyes dilated, Her face and mane both completely wet. She looked at Merc and Mask who stood in front of her. She feared death now as if these two represented nothing other than.

Merc looked at Mask then back at Jet Flash. "Anything?" Merc asked. Jet shook her head and Merc sighed. "I was hoping we wouldn't have to do this. You have a nice smile, though i've never seen it." Merc looked at Mask. "Looks like we're gonna have to pull some teeth." Mask lifted up the pliers in a magic field. Jet Flash started crying. "Wait! Please no more! It was a changeling! I don't know what kind it could be the queen for all i know! Please just stop!" She screamed. Mask dropped the pliers and Merc pet Jet's head. "Good girl, that wasn't so hard now was it?" Merc asked. Bug untied Jet who immediately flew into his hooves and wrapped around him. Bug was confused. He had never felt the touch of a mare in a way that asked for him. Bug held on to her as she cried into his shoulder.

Celestia walked down and into the room. "You have interesting tactics of retrieving information. It seemed almost like torture," She said. Merc nodded. "That's because that's what it was. Sometimes the way to get information out of somepony is to remind them to appreciate the life they have." Merc walked out and Mask followed. Mask passed Twilight who looked a bit frightened at him as they passed. This made mask drop his head in shame. Celestia looked at Bug. "We will return her to the cell she belongs in. Thank you for your work." Bug held on to Jet Flash tighter. She had cried herself to sleep. "I'll take her to her cell," Bug said. He flew past Celestia who looked at Luna. "A changeling. It seems we are at the brink of a major war with a powerful race," Celestia said. This was more than what Merc and his team had signed up for.


End file.
